


if the sky comes falling down for you

by thefigureinthecorner



Category: In Strange Woods (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Mute Shannon O'Connor, Shannon O'Connor Is A Good Brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28805808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefigureinthecorner/pseuds/thefigureinthecorner
Summary: But the stakes are higher this time. Last time, he’d just been looking for some guy in his grade—he’d cared about finding Jacob, sure, but it hadn’t felt nearly as dire as this.This is his baby brother he’s looking for.Or: Shannon was on the search team and I have a lot of emotions about that.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	if the sky comes falling down for you

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from hey brother by avicii because i am dreadfully predictable sometimes
> 
> also hi as an older sibling i can guarantee i would be Freaking The Fuck Out if i were searching for my younger sibling in the woods and found him, and thus i feel the only conclusion that can be drawn from the fact that we don't hear shannon Freaking The Fuck Out upon finding woodsley is that we didn't hear him because we _couldn't_ hear him because he is mute, that is all
> 
> that said i'm not mute myself and i did try to put some research into writing him respectfully but if i messed something up please lmk!!

This all feels frighteningly familiar— the cold, the burn in his legs, the aching feet, the hope that he’ll find who he’s looking for, the fear at what he  _ might _ find. But the stakes are higher this time. Last time, he’d just been looking for some guy in his grade— he’d seen Jacob around in the hallways at school, seen him in passing glances at prom and at the Shack, shared a couple group projects with him, but he’d never been  _ close  _ with Jacob Wells. He’d  _ cared  _ about finding Jacob, sure, but it hadn’t felt nearly as dire as this.

This is his baby brother he’s looking for.

Not that Shane’s the youngest of the O’Connor brothers, but now that Shanley’s hit his growth spurt, Shane is officially the shortest of the bunch. He never quite grew out of his baby face, he’s incredibly enthusiastic about everything he throws himself into, and he never really lost that sense of childlike wonder he’d always seemed to have.

So, yeah, Shane’s his baby brother. And Shane is lost, and cold, and alone, and probably scared out of his mind right now.

Shannon slaps his hands against his thighs to try and push past the ache in them and keeps moving.

Honestly, the thing that really sucks about this search mission, and the thing he hadn’t considered when he volunteered for it this time, is how he’s unable to talk to anyone here. Nobody else knows sign language. When he was on the last search team, his dad was there with him, and Seamus too, for the first day of it at least. This time around there’s nobody. Kathy knows a bit, but she’s conversational at best, and the rest of the group has absolutely no knowledge of it whatsoever. He can hear what they’re saying, but he can’t respond to any of them. Normally he’d write out his answers in these situations, but when they’re hiking, it’s hard to do that. So he just listens and doesn’t respond.

It’s… isolating.

The first day of the search comes to an end and Shannon turns in early, listening to the tired, muffled voices of the search party drifting into his tent as he closes his eyes and tries to sleep. He’d prefer to be alone-alone than keep getting that strange sensation of feeling alone in a crowd.

John-Francis pokes his head in through the opening to Shannon’s tent in the morning, reaching out and jostling his leg. “Hey, we’re gonna try and get moving soon, get up and grab some breakfast before we head out.”

Shannon raises his arm in a tired thumbs-up, nodding into his pillow. He stretches and gives himself another minute or two to lie there and try to wake up before pushing himself up, his muscles protesting as he crawls out of his tent and makes himself a pb&j with the sandwich supplies Kathy had packed. He sits on a fallen tree and chews quickly, wanting to get done as fast as possible so he can find his brother sooner rather than later.

_ Later might be too late,  _ he thinks to himself.  _ We don’t have that kind of time. _

Except, apparently, the rest of the group (read: Donald) doesn’t actually  _ care  _ what kind of time they have. By the time Donald’s had his coffee and finished brooding and bickering with everyone, the sun is already high in the sky and Shannon’s been done packing his stuff back up for nearly half an hour.

They keep moving along the river.

Shannon’s lungs burn as the group makes their way up a steep hill, the exertion and the cold teaming up to create an absolutely terrible combination. He’s just about considering taking a short break when Fordham starts yelling.

“It’s Per! Shane’s down there!”

It takes a moment for the words to register, but—

Shane.

_ They’ve found Shane. _

He breaks off into a sprint along with the rest of the group, pain be damned, and watches as John-Francis, track star extraordinaire, gets there first and scoops Shane up into a giant bear hug, lifting him off the ground and spinning with the momentum of his sudden stop.

“There he is! There he is.”

Shane laughs, hugging John-Francis back as best he can while swinging around in his arms. “You guys hike around here often?” He’s trying to joke, but it’s shaky, punctuated by raspy coughs, and JF and Shannon share a concerned look over Shane’s shoulder.

John-Francis only puts Shane down again when his wrist injury catches back up with him, wincing and trying to rub at it through the cast. Shannon immediately takes over the hug, holding Shane close to him like if he lets go, he’ll never see him again.

“I’m okay,” Shane says into his shoulder. “I’m so happy to see you.”

Shannon pulls back, grinning down at him. “I’m happy to see you too,” he signs back, “I missed you.”

Shane pulls him back in for a hug and it’s then that Shannon notices just how  _ shaky  _ Shane is. He’s trembling like a leaf, shivering in Shannon’s arms. Shannon squeezes him tighter, hoping maybe he can try to help him get warm.

It won’t work, he knows it won’t. But he has to try.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Shannon signs to him when they pull apart again, “you’re shaking, are you cold?”

Shane starts to shake his head, but stops and nods instead, reluctantly. “I’ll— I’ll be okay though, really. It’s Eric we need to worry about, he’s still missing.”

Shit. Right.

The mood in the rest of the group is starting to drop too, as they realize Eric isn’t anywhere to be seen. Fordham’s shoulders begin to droop as the worry starts to kick back in, Kathy placing a gentle hand on his shoulder to console him. “We’ll find him,” he hears her say, “we’ll keep looking. Don’t worry.”

And they try. They really do.

But Shane can’t stop coughing, can’t stop  _ shaking.  _ He keeps tripping over his own feet and he always gets back up again, until eventually he collapses and when he tries to push himself back off the ground his arms give out underneath him.

“Oh god, Woodsley—“

“Oh shit—“

“Get that blanket— get that blanket over there. You okay, buddy?”

Brett and Kathy are both at Shane’s side in a minute and Shannon joins them, fear taking over his initial freeze response as he skids through the snow on his knees to kneel next to Shane. Peregrine and Lexy run back over carrying blankets, John-Francis brings one of the tent heaters they’d brought, and they set to work trying to bundle him up and get him warm again. Kathy’s pulling the satellite phone out of her bag and Shannon tunes her out as she walks a few paces away from the group and begins to dial for a medevac helicopter, instead picking Shane up off the snow and holding him in his arms, trying to keep the cold from the ground from making him worse.

“Woodsley, you okay?” John-Francis holds one of Woodsley’s hands, shaking him lightly. Woodsley’s teeth are chattering too hard for him to respond verbally, but Shannon sees his hand move, stiffly and shakily signing “ _ no” _ over and over again.

Shannon shakes his head at John-Francis.  _ No. He isn’t okay. _

Shane’s breathing is shaky and erratic, coming in short, wheezy bursts as he hyperventilates, the intensity of his shivering making it hard for him to breathe in fully. His eyes are unfocused, looking through Shannon’s face more than at it, and Shannon raises one of his hands to sign at him.

“Eyes on me, okay, eyes on me. You’re going to be okay,” he repeats, trying to sign one-handed as his other hand clutches Shane tighter. “Kathy’s calling for help. You’ll be okay.”

But if he registers any of it, he doesn’t respond, far too confused and delirious to form words.

And then he stops shivering.

And then his eyes slide shut.

_ They’re saying Jacob died of hypothermia,  _ he remembers his mom saying.  _ Kathy told me. It’s just awful, that poor kid. Just so awful. _

Shannon shakes his head. No. No, no, this isn’t happening, this  _ can’t  _ end like it did for Jacob.

Shannon elbows Brett, who’s still sitting next to him, needing to alert  _ someone  _ of what’s happening. He holds Shane up slightly when Brett looks at him, and Brett’s face drops, the panic setting in.

“Oh, no— he isn’t… is he?”

Shannon shakes his head, still feeling the strained rise and fall of Shane’s chest through the layers of clothing and blankets, but he’s not sure how long that answer’s going to be true and that  _ terrifies  _ him.

“Okay, that’s— Kathy? Kathy, we need help over here.”

Kathy looks over at them, bids a quick goodbye to the operator on the other end of the call, and jogs over, her face grim.

“He’s stopped shivering?”

Shannon nods at the same time as Brett says “Yeah, he just stopped a minute ago.”

She bites back a curse. “That’s not good.”

Shannon holds Shane closer at that.

“But he’s gonna be  _ okay,  _ right? I mean like, he’s not… he’ll be okay?” Peregrine voices what everyone’s thinking.

But Kathy hesitates just a moment too long for comfort and Shannon feels his heart sink as she takes a shaky breath and wraps her arm around Peregrine, pulling her close. “I don’t know, sweetie, I honestly don’t. It depends how fast the helicopter gets here, at this point.”

The wait is excruciating. Shannon himself starts to shiver as the cold winter air begins to set in, as the sun starts to dip lower in the February sky, as his arms begin to ache from holding Shane up, but he doesn’t want to let go, doesn’t want to look away from Shane for a  _ second. _

He’s scared that if he does, then when he looks back, Shane will be gone.

The satellite phone beeps with an incoming call and Kathy scrambles to answer, hope flaring on her face. “Hello? We don’t see you yet.”

Shannon can’t hear the other end of the conversation but watches as Kathy’s face shifts to confusion, then relief as she shouts for Fordham and informs him that Eric’s alive and he’s made it back to Whitetail alright.

Fordham visibly droops with relief as some of the tension and fear leaves his body, speaking softly to Eric as Kathy finishes explaining what’s happened to Shane and hands the phone off to him. Shannon wants to be happy that Eric’s alright, relieved that the forced end of their search didn’t mean Eric would die out here alone, but he can’t register that happiness or relief at all because Shane’s breathing keeps getting slower and shallower and Shannon can barely breathe himself as he dreads the moment Shane’s chest stops rising altogether.

And then, after what feels like forever— the steady thrum of helicopter blades in the distance.

They pick Shane up out of his arms, flying him to the hospital, and the sudden loss leaves Shannon feeling hollow and colder than ever as the helicopter becomes a faraway speck amongst the trees. He knows— logically, he  _ knows— _ that this is how Shane is going to get help, this is his one shot at surviving this.

Knowing that doesn’t make the desire to have Shane back with him any less strong.

He needs to  _ protect  _ him.

Donald’s the one who nudges his shoulder to get him moving again, a stark contrast to the huffy, indignant man he’d been this morning. “C’mon, we’re gonna hike to the nearest road and they’ll drive us back to town.”

The hike is somber and the drive is tense. The mood in the group is scared-concerned-worried, and it’s honestly a bit suffocating.

Shannon ends up sandwiched between Lexy and John-Francis in the far back seat, grateful for the blast of warm air that hits him as he climbs in.

He’s fine. He’s holding up. Shane will be fine, he will be fine, everything will be fine.

And yet, despite the fact that he’s already telling himself this, despite the fact that he’s already trying to convince himself, when Lexy softly nudges his arm and says “he’s going to be alright, you know,”  _ that  _ is when he finally breaks down.

Having that outside reassurance drains all the strength from his body and he feels like a puppet with its strings cut as he slumps into John-Francis’s side and begins sobbing. He feels JF put his arm around him, feels Lexy gently rub his shoulder to soothe him, and it helps a bit but it’s not  _ grounding  _ enough. He squeezes his thighs, digs his nails in through his jeans and feels the dull pain from the pressure of it rather than the sharp pinpricks he’d get on his bare skin.

He calms down eventually, not entirely done crying but by the time the car pulls up to the hospital he’s come back down to occasional sniffles.

Still, his mom gets one look at his red, puffy eyes when he walks into the waiting room with the rest of the group and she and dad are all over him, telling him that it’ll be okay, that there hasn’t been any news but they’re treating him as they speak, that  _ Shane  _ will be okay.

So Shannon tries to relax.

Having known his mom for all his life, Shannon knows that Irene O’Connor is a very,  _ very  _ anxious person. Especially when it comes to the health and safety of her children.

If she’s saying everything will be fine, then it must be fine.


End file.
